New World is a large online game where many players can play together. It was created by Amazon Games Orange County and released by Amazon Games on September 28, 2021. The game was first planned to come out in May 2020, then August 2021, but was delayed until its final release on September 28, 2021. Set in the mid-17th century, players explore the imaginary land of Aeternum, which is inspired by the Americas. In this world, all characters who travel there cannot die.
New World was originally planned to be free to play, but it now uses a model where players pay to buy the game upfront. This is different from many older online games, which often used subscription models to provide regular updates. The game also allows players to make small purchases for extra items, such as decorative skins and some useful items that can be used in player housing.
In October 2024, versions of the game for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S were released under the title New World: Aeternum. These versions included major updates for players using the PC version. A television show called New World: The Once and Future King was released on December 10, 2024, as part of Secret Level. The show features voices from actors including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steven Pacey, Gabriel Luna, Arazou, Dana Haqjoo, and Carlo Rota.
In October 2025, it was announced that Season 10 would be the final season of the game. Amazon stated that the game’s servers would remain active through 2026. In January 2026, it was announced that the game would shut down on January 31, 2027.
Gameplay
Players can form groups of up to five members. They may join one of three factions: Marauders, Syndicate, or Covenant. Players gather raw materials such as wood, stone, ore, and animal skins from resource nodes. They can craft items, take control of settlements, complete quests, explore the world, or fight other players or monsters.
The gameplay does not include auto-locked targeting attacks. Players must aim carefully. As characters level up, enemy mobs (non-player characters) use more complex and stronger attack patterns. Players must respond by using mana, stamina, and health through timed attacks, dodges, weapon blocks, retreats, or crawling stealth. Weapon skill choices include bow, hammer, hatchet, great axe, fire staff, life staff, musket, blunderbuss, spear, sword/shield, ice gauntlet, void gauntlet, flail, and great sword.
Characters improve personal attribute skills. As skill levels increase, the benefits from each level grow more slowly. Players also level up weapon and trade skills. Trade skills are divided into three categories: "crafting" (weapon smithing, armoring, engineering, jewel crafting, arcana, cooking, and furnishing), "refining" (smelting, woodworking, leather working, weaving, and stone cutting), and "gathering" (logging, mining, harvesting, and tracking and skinning). There is also a "camping" skill for wilderness survival.
Three quick travel methods are available. While the base game does not include fast speed mounts, players can use skills for short bursts of speed. Players may dodge or climb most environmental objects or use the fire staff to cross large gaps in the air.
Mounts are added in the "Rise of Angry Earth" extension, released on October 2, 2023. Horses, dire wolves, and lions are included, each with unique designs. A new Riding Trade Skill allows players to earn upgrades such as increased speeds, buffs, and attachments.
The game's economy uses gold coins. Players can sell unwanted items to others for gold, dismantle items for resources, discard items on the ground, or trade directly with other players. When characters die, they do not drop items. However, items can be damaged through combat, use, or death. Damaged items can be repaired using repair items or gold coins.
Players can buy personal housing and place furnishings to improve aesthetics and utility. Housing also provides a way to travel quickly to a settlement.
The game includes player-versus-player (PvP) combat, with or without quests. Before leaving a safe-zone settlement, players can set a "flagged state," making them vulnerable to attacks from other flagged players. The flagged state becomes active after a 30-second cooldown period following a player's exit from the settlement zone.
Synopsis
New World is a game set in a fictional world during the 17th century, a time known as the Age of Exploration. The game takes place on a fantasy island in the Atlantic Ocean called Aeternum. Anyone who travels to Aeternum becomes immortal and cannot leave the island. The world has many resources to collect and enemies to face, including dangerous creatures and other players. Players can move across the world by walking, riding animals like horses, wolves, or lions, or using teleportation between special places called "Shrines" found in important towns and landmarks. The game features an economy controlled by the players themselves.
Development
New World was first introduced in September 2016 at TwitchCon. Amazon Game Studios announced they would develop three PC games: Breakaway, Crucible, and New World. In March 2018, Breakaway was canceled, and the team focused on the other two games. On October 9, 2020, Relentless Studios announced the cancellation of Crucible, stating that the project could not continue. The team then shifted their efforts to New World. On February 16, 2021, it was announced that New World would release on August 31, 2021.
The game was initially planned to be free-to-play. However, in 2019, before its release, the business model changed to a standard paid model. Players who had signed up for the game before this change received it for free.
On July 20, 2021, New World entered a closed beta. The next day, reports showed that many high-end Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 graphics cards made by EVGA became non-functional while running the game. It was believed that the game’s menu screens did not limit frames per second, causing the GPUs to process over 9,000 frames per second. Most gaming computers operate below 240 frames per second, and the cards’ safety features failed to prevent damage. Amazon stated they would add an FPS limit to menu screens but claimed the game itself did not harm the cards. A tech YouTuber named Jason Langevin reported that other GPUs, including the RTX 3080 Ti and AMD models, were also affected. EVGA agreed to replace all damaged RTX 3090 cards at no cost. Langevin tested the issue and found that the EVGA GPU exceeded its power limit by 20%, while the MSi GPU did not.
On August 4, 2021, the release date was delayed again to September 28, 2021, to allow more development based on beta feedback. The final open beta began on September 9, 2021, and ended on September 12.
On September 28, 2021, Amazon Game Studios released New World globally. Five server regions were available at launch: Australia, the East Coast of the United States, Europe, South America, and the West Coast of the United States. These regions launched at 8:00 a.m. local time, except Australia, which launched at 9:00 p.m. AEST to account for time zone differences.
On the day of release, Steam recorded over 700,000 players online at the same time. This caused long wait times for players, as servers could only handle 2,000 players at once. Amazon added more servers within two days and announced plans to increase the player limit. They also allowed free character transfers between servers, helping reduce wait times. However, players continued to report issues, with some media describing the problem as "far from solved."
In October 2021, it was reported that players who accessed the game through Steam family sharing received it for free. One month later, Amazon disabled family sharing due to an increase in bots, gold sellers, and banned players using shared accounts. Amazon stated they would provide instructions for players who used family sharing for valid reasons and allowed some players to continue using accounts where the game was never purchased.
In October 2025, Amazon announced that New World would stop receiving new content after Season 10 and the Nighthaven update. The company confirmed servers would remain active through 2026. On January 15, 2026, the game was removed from digital stores, and in-game currency purchases ended on July 20, 2026. The game was scheduled to shut down on January 31, 2027.
Reception
New World received "mixed or average" reviews from the review site Metacritic. It was nominated for the Best Multiplayer Game award at The Game Awards 2021. At different times during its release, New World was among the most played games on Steam.
Adaptation
In August 2024, it was announced that the game would be adapted as an episode of the anthology television series Secret Level. The episode, titled "New World: The Once and Future King," was released on December 10, 2024. It was written by J. T. Petty and Philip Gelatt, directed by Maxime Luère, Léon Bérelle, Dominique Boidin, and Rémi Kozyra, and featured voice acting by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steven Pacey, Gabriel Luna, Arazou, Dana Haqjoo, Carlo Rota, and Matthew Gilbert.